1. A tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, rippling the roof of the Georgia Dome during a college basketball game, shattering windows and ripping roofs from buildings before tearing into several residential neighborhoods. 15 people were clamed to be injured but none were killed. A tornado warning was issued and said to be in effect until 10 p.m. but the tornado ripped through at 9:45 p.m. The CNN newsroom was damaged along with other downtown buildings.
2. A Chicago minister who delivered a fiery sermon about Sen. Hillary Clinton having an advantage over Sen. Barack Obama in the presidential race because she is white is no longer a part of the Obama campaign. Rev. Jeremiah Wright will no longer be on the African American Religious Leadership Committee, campaign. In an earlier sermon Wright had stated that America had brought Sep. 11 on themselves. “I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies,” Obama wrote on the liberal Web site Huffingtonpost.com about recently surfaced sermons from Wright his longtime pastor at the Trinity United Church of Christ. The sermon is still under investigation.
3. An autopsy has been done on 20-year-old pregnant Marine finding she had a superficial wound to her neck that may have occurred after death, according to autopsy results released Friday. Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach’s body and that of her fetus were found beneath a fire pit this year near the North Carolina home of Cpl. Cesar Laurean, the main suspect in the case.
4. A suspect is charged in the killing of a UNC student body president and was found to be connected to other murders on college campuses. Eve Carson was found shot to death on March 5. Her car was found the next day in a near by neighborhood. Lawrence Alvin Lovette Jr., 17, was arrested Thursday morning in connection with Carson’s death.
5. Gov. Eliot Spitzer said March 12 that he will step down from the state’s top office because he cannot allow his “private failings to disrupt the public’s work.” Sources said Spitzer spent more than $15,000 for several encounters with prostitutes. Sources revealed March 12 that Spitzer is thought to have begun patronizing the prostitution outfit, known as the Emperors Club, eight months ago and had used its services on at least eight occasions. The women identified as 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre which was said in court to be “Kristen.” Dupre was discovered on her myspace page by CNN.
6. When attorney-turned-movie producer Samuel Rael decided he wanted to make a film about a serial killer in 1995, it was former legal client Gary Michael Hilton who he says came up with the plot. Rael was shocked to find that Hilton had been arrested and then confessed to Emerson’s murder. Soon after that, police hinted that Hilton might be a serial killer this linking him to three murders in two other states. The movie is now out and called “Deadly Run.” It was Hilton, according to Rael, who found one of the film’s prime shooting locations: a cabin in the mountains of North Georgia near the town of Cleveland. In the movie, the killer held women captive in the cabin. This could lead him to other murders around North Carolina.
7. In Mexico, 33 bodies were found behind a home. Mexican investigators found 19 more bodies buried in the backyard of a house in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, increasing the tally of corpses found there to 33, officials said Thursday. Federal agents have been digging in the back yard starting March 1 finding six dismembered bodies. Agents also found 3,740 pounds of marijuana in the home. These killings are due to trafficking.
8. In the update of the war in Iraq, on March 14 eight people were killed, including a suicide bomber, while 32 people were injured in the attack. The bomber killed three Iraqi soldiers but it has not been known if any of the dead were U.S. soldiers.
9. In entertainment news, the crew off the new Batman movie will not take the joker out of the film. This is to honor Ledger’s legacy. As reported, Ledger had died over an accidental overdose in late Jan. The film “The Dark Knight” will be out in theaters July 18.
10. A new drug is circulating the U.S. rapidly. Teens are now lacing Meth with Ecstasy. Students say it gives them a better high but what students may not know is how dangerous this drug can be. Ecstasy already contains meth so when mixing the two it can make it more harmful to the body and risking instant death. The drug comes out of Canada and crosses the U.S. boards through Albany New York. The drug is circulating faster than what drug officials can stop.
All information was retrieved at CNN.com. For further information about any of these stories and more view CNN.com.
